Wheel.



P. P. ENO'.

WHEEL.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 28. 1911.

1,001,939. Patented Au .29,1911.

' stance, as easy I ported on afyie' ding bed.

UNITED sTArne T OFFICE.

FRANK F. END, OF JAMAICA PLAIN, MASSACHUSETTS,

WHEEL.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it "known that l, FRANK F. CENO, a citizen of theUnited States,residing at Jamaica Plain, in the county of Suffolk and State ofAIEISStLClIl'ISGttS, have invented certain new and useful ='In'iprcwements 1n iV heels; ancl'I do hereby tlee'larethevfollow ing robea fall, cleanend exaet'descriptwn of the invention, such aswvi'll'enahle'othere skilled in the a rt to which it appert'iins to make anduse the some.

This invention relates to wheels, preferably 'for'usein automobiles, andmore particularly to tires for such "wheels which will have 'zialltheadvantages gained "from" the use of a pneumatic t.i're,suel1, forinrunning and speedfquelities, but obviating itsdisadvantages,especially the lial il-itytopuncture.

Thetype-of t-ire of'the present invention is knowngenerally as a. springtire which ordinarilycoin] i588 an outer solid'tire Sup- In suchatiresone essential is that itfmnst absolutely" be with: out friction,'frictioncau noiee whirilt is highlyobjectionable. It s alsoessentialthat such tireisnmst be flexible and captl'wle of quick 'recoxery inalli'directiorm, so as properly :to careforthe transverse as'well as thevertical strainsto which the wheel is subjected under runni'iigconditions. Strength to enalile the tire to stand up un-- der theheavystrainsplaced upon it when i'ru'nning atfl h speed, or under heavyloads, is-still a the" "sential,

The obj'ect of "th sent invention is to provideaespring t -e l'la'i'l'ig; among others, all ofitlleesen'tial tjilalit ics descrilicd andwhich'willbetheequal in running qualitics' of theepneumatic tinez naccordance with the: oh ect ene few nentnm resuies 111 the constructionn 'iliQ1ll lth-Lfilm sprin formm'g'they "n' "limit "the outer send-me.

I sprln s f m-nee '0 greatest-1 possible amount- In order to wakeea retion s this lmd formed iifa-se'rieh-of coile -l i i te "tnllywif the lt-h'e fclly of the outer tire 'm' pretl i consequent noiee, and eggunder teneion and relaen-con' mated to the cireunr 'the Wheel,ftl-ierehy chtnjining the recovery I spenlflcation ofLette rs PatentApplication filed January 28, 1911.

re n forcing each oth er lets the coiled s 'n-ings hilit-y to the.Jnforced by a flat,

to oppose these This accomplished by of'Sti'ains: in'all Hirer offlexibility and i i entb a' t Patented Aug. 29,, 19:11. swarm. 605,197.

these long and highly flexible springs may take cure of the tranm'ernestrains, without adding-parts forthis purpose as such addi tionn tend toimpair their transverse Yicxh l)il,ity, 'tl1ey are secured diagonallyacross the folly with their ends owl-lapping thus; 7 against eachstrains; and pern'litti'ng a relatively large nuniher to he us-ca, notwithstandingtheir length.

n important feature of construction resides in the forin of the outertireto which the coiled springs are secured. This "tire, in the presentinvention, eon'n'n'ises a flat, tle'xilile steel hand, or rim, whiel'inmterially in givingflexitire as it acts as one long int spring,absorbing blows and working in sections so that, in prarticc, a 'nmnherof the coiled springs, eonst'antly changing, are re- Sunni-ellipticalspring formed lay constantly changing,portiqne of fleyil le rini-lormil'igtheoulertire. l urthern'iore.linlout'ei' riinfor tire, of thisform adds mate 'ia'lly to'the flexibility of the tire strains as thereis no rigidity Strains such azawould he the case it it werechannel-shaped or cast in a section preventing flexibility.

I he'lievethat' T and the first to provide :1 wheel having ineoinhimition an inner wheel, an outer flexible tire, and a of coiledsprings exteniling (Tircnnitvrentially of the wheel arranged between thewheel and tireand rigidly secured toearh its aliore described.

' The wheel is alwo provided with means for pern'iitting the SPI'JI-IgllI'O to he adjuated to the load- "without talcingthe wheel.apart.Rtillllllg the coiled onterflrim attheirends aml to springs'tojthe I attheir renters thelatter connectheta] ly 'tlon lirT-ing-adjustable Sothat the central ol-mm oflthe springs may lie .nniintainecl at agreaterorless distance from the *t'vllya decreaeing or increasingthetension under whieh the Springs are placed :IS'IlTiI l he de sired.'In this conm ction 'it should he pointed out that in 'tensioning thecoiled springs in this: inanner the Hat. flexible-Pint is also acteduponptlirongh the connection of the springs thereto, and is held underan inwarclten'sion on' the telly thue'increaeing' its; flexibility andits quielcrecovery h se and otliei' ifea tures of the invention-ASSIGNOR 0F THREE-EIGHTT-TS;

will be fully described in the following specification andthen-particularly pointed out in the appended claim.

The preferred embodiment of the inven tion illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which Figure-1 is an elevation of the wheelre- ,moved from the vehicle and not under strain; Fig" 2 .is anelevatlonof the wheel showing "it 'under a heavy strain; Fig. 3

.a' planof the wheel, partly broken away to,

illustrate the diagonal arrangement of the coiled springs; and Fig. 4 isa transverse section through the spring tire on the line XX' of Fig. 1.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawing the innerwheel, of

any convenient construction but somewhatsmaller than usual, isdesignated at 10. The inner .wheel 10 is provided with the usual felly12 with or without a tire 1a which may, for convenience,- be termed theinnerrim. Surrounding the inner rim, and concentric therewith, butspaced a short distance therefronn is a flat, flexible band 16;

of some suitable'spring material, such for instance as steel, and whichmay, ,for convenience, be termed 'the outer rim The outer rim may be ofthe same'width as the inner rim or as much wider as is desirable toobtain a suiiicient wheel basefor the coir dition of use under which thewheel is to the springs to theinner rim isby threading- Fun.

A yielding bed is provided, for the outer rim, or tire, 1G by theprovision of a series of coiled springs 18 extending circumtercn-f bynuts 21' (l*ig..4),.but..any other .form of" connection which willholdthe ends of the springs rigidly to the outer-run may. be

used. A preferred form of connection of the convolutions of zthespringsthrough an eye formed in the outer end of a bolt 24...

passed through a radial aperture in thei'elly and held from outwardmovement by a nut threaded =on ltS, inner'end.

' neisalso provided at the eye end of the bolt which nut isjammedagainstthe center of the spring to hold it against any tendency to reevethrough the eye of the bolt. in a tire of this nat 'e considerabletransverse strength is required owing ,to the heavy and quickly changingtransverse strains. placed u )0 the wheels when in. use. To provide ora. proper strength to resist such= transverse straits/the springs 18amplaced diagonally acrossthe outer rim.(see Fig. 3), 5 mg the idth or].the ria-n being .sufiicient to lrussed, on the felly,'1tsiiexibihty'permit- 130 A nut allow this to be done. Excellentresultshave been obtained in practice by placing the end. of one spring0 the series opposite substantially the center of the next adja centspring. This particular arrangement y, is not, however, essential andthe amount the springs overlap may be altered .from whatis shown as thepreferred arrangement without departing from thespirit of the invention,\Vhen the springs are zit- 7 ranged diagonally, and with overlappingends, sutlicient' transverse-strength is obtained to enable the use ofthe wheel under any conditions. I

To aid the easy running quality of the 83 wheel an outer tire of solidrubber may be placed on the outer rim. Obviously, however, a rubber tireis not essential and a tire of wood or othermaterial may be applied or asmooth outer surface to theggwheel may 35 be obtained in any otherconvenient m an-' 'ner. Ifa rubber tire is used it ispreferably mountedas follows; The heads of the bolts 19 are formed as thin washers-27clamping in place layer of rubber 28 stretched on 99 the outer .rim andproperly pierced with holes to receive the bolts, Ifillers inflthe formof washers 30 are set on the bolts within the-'holesinthe layer ofrubber. 28, these washersbeing of such thickness as i095 providefor .a'substantially *flat' surface,

across the bolt heads 27 and rubber 2 8; -.A

second layer of rubberv 32, which when placed on the first layercompletes half-T round, is then vulcanized on the first layer. {on

By this method the rubber tire issecurely fastened to the rim 16,. andis effectually prevented from creeping. t

. \Vhile 'a tire formed by an inner and Jan I outer-rim yieldinglyheldfapartwill, under some conditions of use, perform fair service,

, such tires are not durable. andhav e neither the strength nor' theresiliency requisite for use under general running conditions. Thisinvention contemplates, a departure from such tire construction. As inthe tire of=this invention, not only the springs are used to obtainresiliency but because of its form and material the outer; rim. as wellassists the resiliency by supplementing and reinforcing the e'tfect ofthe springs between the rims. Thisaction of the rim 16 maybe increasedby placing it. under tension..- In'the preferred construction theouter'rimis placed under ail-inward tension by reason of -the describedmounting of the coiled sprin The distance between the bolt holes in t eouter rim. for the-ends of a spring,-is suchthat the spring must beplaced under =considerable tension in order to bring its ecu-.125 tralportion to the position shown in Fig.1. Obviously,'*the outer rim, aswell as the spring, ,is-. placed under tension, therim bedrawn inwardly,or substantially ting this, As a result the outer rim 16 forms anauxiliary spring, under high tension, increasing many times theresiliency of the wheel as a whole.

To adjust the tire for varying loads, or

hexfremely simple and quick ad ustment of he I .nsion.

L It should be observed that while the outer run lGTas a whole acts toreinforce the coiled springs 18 it also 'acts locally in sections.

5 This may best be seen from Fig. 2 which Illustrates the operatimi ofthe wheel under a It extremely heavy load, much greater than would beapplied in practice. From this figure it is secrrtlla't the series ofsprings 18 l at the ground side of the wheel are substan tiallyreinforced, as to ...the vertical strains, by a section of the rim 16extending substantially half way around the wheeL' The flexible band,forming the outer rim, is brought by the load quite near to the felly atthe point'of contact with the ground and at he ends of a dian'ieterparallel to the round the space between the outer and inn r rims isincreased somewhat over the norm but at thcupper side of the wheel thewidth of this spaceren'iains practically -un-. changed. The outer rimmay thus be described as working el'liptically in contradistinction toan eccentric working wherein the outer rim shifts bodily relatively tothe inner wheel. The immense advantage of an outeurim workingelliptically'over'such a rim working eccentrically will be apparent tothose skilled in the art. I

Obviously a spring tire constructed as herein described, may 'be mounteddirectly upon the usual wood whccl now employed with a pneun'latic tire.When so used, if the wheel already provided with an inner metal rim, asis usual, the new wheel may be constructed by applying directly theretothe outer, flexible rim with lts yielding bed comprising the coiled srings. here the wood wheel is not provi ed with the inner metal rim, thespring tire comprising the inner and outer rims with the coiled springsarranged therebetween and connected to each will be supplied.

As is well known to those skilled in the art a weight wheel slows thespeed of the vehicle consi erably and therefore lightness, combined withthe necessary strength, is a feature greatly to be sought after.Particular attention is directed to the'simplicity I of the wheel, byreason of which its'weight compares very favorably with a pneumatictired wheel, and to the small number of parts necessary to obtain a,spring tire havmg the features and producing the results hereindescribed. u

While it is preferred to employ the specific construction andarrangement of the parts shown and described, since this constructionand arrangement are the simplest and most etlicient embodiment of theinvention which has yetbeen devised, it will be understood that thisconstruction and ,arrangement are not essential except so far as it isspecified in the claim, and may be varied or modified without departingfrom the broader features of the invention.

What is claimed as new, is

A spring wheel consisting of an inner wheel having a rigid rim, an outerrim comprising a flat, flexible metal band concentric therewith, and aseries of overlapping coiled springs extending circumfcrcntlally of thewheel, diagonally across and between the rims, and rigidly secured toeach rim, substantially as described. r

, FRANK F. ENO. Witnessesz FRANCIS WI JOHNSTON, E. ELLIo'r'r TURNER.

